Larry Paulick raises some interesting and important issues when he talks about
the valuation of Tigers (and other cars)>
First, I suppose selling prices, actual or theoretical, are a way of
keeping score, the higher the better. But be careful of what you ask for. The
insurance rates go up with the valuation and heaven help you if you have a
speeding ticket or two on a sports car designed to go fast. But what if - as I
think is often the case - Tiger owners have no plan to sell their cars, then
what is the point of raising the theoretical price? If it gets high enough,
the word gets around and the cars are a target for high end car thieves and
your baby might soon end up in a shippping container in Baltimore or Long
Beach or New York, bound for Kuwait, Colombia or wherever. It has happened.
Second, on getting street praise, from babes or others on our cars.
Having had both a Tiger and an Alpine, I find that the expressed interest by
strangers in the cars is about equal. Girls squeal about the red Alpine as
much as they used to about the green Tiger (now in Denver in son Eric's
hands). A good Alpine is worth about one-quarter the price of a good Tiger -
so the price ratio for compliments is in favor of the Alpine, four to one.
As to Team Tiger. I rejoice in its victories and groan at its defeats
(usually at the hands of some committee). But we should realize that the
racing Tigers have only a superficial resemblance to our cars. If the engine,
the suspension and the frame are not like our cars, how does that make it a
Tiger? I should think that the Porsche and Toyota and other teams are bending
the same rules, but doesn't that make the whole competition a bit of a fraud?
Jim Anderson
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